06x07 & 06x08 - VW Beetle (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers. We find iconic
classic cars that are on the brink and we

bring them back to
show him condition. I find

the motors and I fix
them up. We've got a

budget of just £5,000 to buy and restore a
car. And hopefully we'll make a little bit

of profit when we sell it on. That's the
plan. Now this time we're on the trail of

arguably one of the best loved cars in
motoring history. Yes, we're on the lookout

for the car of the people, also known as
the Volkswagen Beetle. In 1933 Adolf Hitler

ordered Ferdinand Porsche to develop
a car that would carry two adults, three

children and reach a top speed of a
hundred kilometres an hour. The result?

One of the most enduring and
distinctive cars of all time. This little

car welcomed millions to motoring.
It was affordable, functional and fun. When

production ended in Brazil and Mexico
in 2003, more than 23 million have been

built. This is one of the most
collectible cars on the planet today

and can fetch seven grand in top condition.
So our mission as ever is

to find and restore our own love bug
with our five grand budget. Now there

are lots of beetles out there in every
state repair. It's a great hobby car and

there's cars that are sort of in bits
and there's cars that are finished and

nothing to do to them and there
are lots of cars in between. I've set my

mind on an early sixties car.
That way I get the nice original interior

and the smaller rear lights and much
more collectible but let me tell you

a little bit harder to find.
I'm searching club sites and regular

classifieds. In good condition they seem
to be around the five grand Mark but as

usual I want a car that's cheap, that
needs work. This 1960s car sounds perfect.

The owner says it needs panel work.
At just 300 pounds the car sounds too

good to be true but a Wheeler dealer
plays the odds. Could this be the bargain

of the century? You know searching around
the Internet always comes up with its

goods and there's one right
here. You must be Nick. Hello

there mate. How are you
mate? Thanks for meeting me.

Alright no problem. So this
is the car? Yeah. Wow that

paint colour, that's horrible
isn't it? Yeah it was a

waiting paint. I never got round to
doing it in the end as you can well see.

And what about this
here? I mean this is all a

bit weird. Their spaces
are put on there to let

their end because there's
a bigger motor in the back

of it. Really? Can I have
a look? Yeah no problem.

Oh look at that. That's nice and
tidy isn't it? So what's it like inside?

All nice and original. Oh it's set for
the steering wheel. It looks alright.

Round the front. So you
said you had an accident.

Wow! That is quite a
knock isn't it? Yeah. So that's

the front beam of the car
is it? Yeah. That means

underneath. So now
I've seen it to be honest

with you mate I
think it's just a little bit

too much for me and
Ed to do in the workshop.

I'm afraid I'm gonna
have to walk away. Sorry

mate. No worries. Good
luck. Alright all the best.

It's a shame I had
high hopes for this

Volkswagen Beetle. It
was cheap enough but the

damage is too extensive
so I'm afraid it's back

to the Internet for me.
There's another one out

there. I know. After a
bit more searching this

online auction site had
a car that sounds just

right. A 1960s blue
bug. The ad says it needs

a bit of welding, a
respray but otherwise it's

straight. Now the car's
been standing around

for two years so will it
start? At the moment.

the bids are low so I'm
not hanging around. Straight

in the car, get myself
up to Worcestershire,

go and have a look. I
do appreciate you giving

up your time Rob. That's
alright. I know you're

a very busy man.
That's right. But it's been

worth the journey
because just on the face of it

she looks fantastic.
Well it's a nice old Beetle

you know. I can't believe
it's 48 years old. That's

older than me you
know. Yeah paint's a bit

faded but it's a nice
car. Some of the tell-tale

signs on these are wheel
arches, running boards,

you've got to make
sure that they're in tip

top condition. That's
right yes. Otherwise

the subframe is rotten.
Yes. And that's when

you can walk away from a Beetle. Yeah.
But you said that all of that stuff's good.

What's the engine like?
It's an original 1200cc.

It's original. Now one
of the things to do on

these is to pull this
pulley backwards and

forwards and you're
looking for a little bit

of play. Yeah. In the
pulley but not too much

play otherwise the
engine's kaput. This one

seems okay and it's
it's actually relatively

clean and rust free down
there. Yeah. 48 years

old. I'm amazed to be
honest with you. Yeah.

Very nice. So far
so good. Right let's.

totally original. I
love the little dials and

the little buttons on
this sticks and all sort.

God it's great isn't it? All right to dig
up the back seat you don't mind do you?

No I don't mind at all. Because the back
seats on these I know it's notorious where

the battery is under
the rear seat if the

floors perish through
battery acid and whatever

it just drops straight
through. But this one

looks in tip-top
condition. Very very nice.

Right last but no means least I know these
are the sort of angry areas so to speak.

That's right yeah. Of a Volkswagen Beetle.
When you lift the front a lot of people

wouldn't bother would they? Of removing
the spare wheel but I will because I know

down here look at that. Rotten all the
way through. I did expect that but you also

said quite kindly
that you brought us a

panel to weld in. Yeah
it's original heritage

one. Original one so
that's good news. Right

all comes down to to
the price really I know

you've got it advertised
on the Internet auction

site. That's right. And I
know at the moment it's

only at 500 quid.
What if I was to double

that give you a thousand
pound and take it off

your hands? No the auction runs. What if
you only get 750 quid? This they get more.

I'll give you a grand I'll give you a grand
take it off the Internet I'll give you a

grand. There's a lot of fans out there will
love this car. My wife loved this car and

some other wife will love
it. What? You're gonna

I'm gonna be back here
aren't I? In a few days time

yep. I bet you I'll buy
it for 800 quid on the

Internet. Take me grand now.
No. Come on. No the auction

runs to the end and I'll see you next week.
You're harder work than I am you are.

Well it's time for the
auction of that Beetle

to end and I'm desperate
to be the winning

bidder. The price just
keeps increasing it's

gone 11 12 13 14 1500
pounds so far and I think I

should put my bid in
around now. So away it

goes let's hit the refresh
page come on come

on come on. Yes the
auctions ended and the

winning bidder is it's
me. We are now the proud

owners of an original


than I wanted to pay

but it's still a fair
price for that car. I'm

well pleased with
this little motor Edward

he's trading one so
I'm confident he'll soon

make it great and once
done we'll have one

of the coolest and most sellable cars ever.
It was a bit cheeky turning up and offering

them a grand for that
beetle but the good news

is I did finally buy it
and he made me pay 600

pound more. 1,600
quid but look what I got

I've got an original


sprayed up get the
mechanical jobs done and get

it looking sharp we're
gonna have an inbuilt

marketplace for it that's
because the bug world

is massive. We will
seriously be in the dosh.

What do you think of
that sunshine? Looking

pretty good except the
paintwork. Don't touch

it too hard it might
fall apart. Well the

paintwork is a little
bit ropey but it's not

had a bar for a wash
since 1960 a bit like me.

You know it's a nice
little car. But it's gonna

take a long time to
Polish all that out and

sort it all out. Don't
worry Ed. I reckon we

should just repaint it. That's fine but if
the paint is this bad what about the seals

and everything you know
is it rotten? There is no

rust under the seals. Good.
You'll be pleased to know.

There is a nasty bit
of rust just here at the

front. If you lift that
up you'll notice the

clue is in this this is called a heritage
panel which has been thrown in with the

that's because underneath
the spare wheel Ed.

It's a little rotten.
It is a little rotten.

Have a look inside though.
Yeah yeah okay. Totally

original again. It's looking
great with a new vinyl seat.

Look nobody's put any
nasty speakers in the

door cards it's all
original. Look mechanical

fuel Gauge how cool
is that? It is it's very

good mechanical fuel
Gauge doesn't work.

Okay of course you
know. I think it just needs

connecting up and you'll be pleased to know
the brakes don't work. Okay and I guess

because it's on the
trailer the engine doesn't

work on either? Exactly.
It last run about seven

or eight months ago so
come down have a look at

the engine. Okay go
over this way. Look at

that little half w deadly
with the Pope's nose.

Right now. It's all very cool
stuff. It is. Look how tight it

is. First of all that struck me.
Now I know that you told me

whenever I go and buy
a Volkswagen Beetle pull

the pulley in and out.
Check the end float.

Check the end float.
Very little movement on this

end float. I reckon it's
in good Nick. Go on.

Told you. You've got to have
a little tiny tiny feel but that is

mental. That's so wrong. If the
engine even runs we might have to get

anyone anyway. It's a
new one we ain't got the

money to put a new
one in that's gonna run.

Time to rebuild it come
on. Ed it's gonna be a little

bit fuel right connect
the battery up it's gonna

start up. I got a feeling
we might have to do

something quite serious.
You ain't gonna have to do

nothing to it. There's
plenty of work for Ed

to do on our Beetle
so the sooner he gets to

work restoring his
beauty the quicker we can

sell this car on. But
this little motor is 48

years old so let's just hope underneath
it's not going through a midlife crisis.

We've picked up one of the most iconic
cars ever to roam this planet the VW Beetle

for just 1,600 pounds.
Once we get it sprayed

up get the mechanical
jobs done and get it

looking sharp we're gonna have an inbuilt
marketplace for it. That's because the

bug world is massive.
We will seriously be in

the dosh. With a total
budget of five grand we're

hoping to give this 48
year old a renovation

that will roll back the
years for this motor

but without pain there's
no gain so Ed roll up

your shirt sleeves it's
time to put some grafting.

I'm so chuffed that
Mike's got us this brilliant


about it it's pretty much 50 years old and

there have been many
makes and models of car

that have come and
gone in that time and this

thing is still in pretty
good Nick. Yeah sure

the paint needs to be
sorted out and that is

gonna be a pretty big
job but before I worry

about any of that I
need to find out whether

this car goes and
stops. This engine hasn't

been running for about
a year so my first job

is to go through a series
of checks to assess

its condition before I fire it up. I just
want to check there's no problems with the

crankshaft or the cam
that's perhaps blocking

the engine so the
first thing I have to do

is just turn it over by hand. I can feel
there's not a huge amount of compression

but there's still some there which is good.
Next I'll check the crankshaft for movement

along its axis known as end float. It's a
common problem for air-cooled engines.

Excessive movement
means worn or even damaged

internal engine
components. Okay so we've

got this problem with the end float. If the
engine runs I have to decide what the thing

to do is next whether we perhaps sort out
the end float but maybe you have to change

the engine so it
could still be a bit up in

the air. Also just check
the ignition system

now inside the cap
itself. It's seen better

days but it's okay.
There's no point spending

any money at this stage. I want to
see if it all works. Okay that's all cool.

Now the coil it's not
brand new but it's

certainly been changed
recently so hopefully

that should be okay as well and normally
when a coil fails you get a little bit

of life out of it before
it gets too hot and

breaks down so I'm
hope confident that'll

be okay. So the next
thing is spark plugs. All

I have to do is pop
these out and have a look

and see what they
look like. Oh actually

it's a little bit oily
so I think I will put

new ones in all round
actually just to be

safe. Anything to
help with that first initial

turn of the key. Spark plug gaps vary on
most cars. By using a feeler Gauge I can

set the correct gap for our car. Okay
well the spark plugs are cool so now I'm

just going to check the oil and obviously
Mike should have done this when he bought

the car. Actually that's not the same way,
it's a little bit over but it's certainly.

a lot better than being
a bit under. You can

see the Mark there
just becoming apparent.

so it's a little bit over. With all the
main serviceable components okay I need

to add some fresh
fuel. Trying to start a

car on stale fuel is
never a good thing it's

always a bit harder to get it going if it
works at all and this car's been standing

for quite a while you could smell the fuel
in the fuel tank and it smells a little bit

stale. I'm actually
going to fill up the float

bowl down there on
the chamber at the back

there with petrol I'm going to do that
by using this little breather pipe here.

I'm just going to
pop this little funnel

we've made up here
and another funnel on top

of there. Got some fuel I'm just going to
pop that into there a little bit at a time

just let it breathe out. This way we've
got some nice ready-to-go fuel in there

it's full of octane. Cool and as
the rest of that goes down I'm now

going to fit the battery, the brand new
battery and make sure I've got loads of

charge ready to turn the engine over
I want to be at the business end when

this thing starts up so
I'm going to get Paul

to crank the engine
over while I go and play

around with all the bits and pieces on
the engine. Go then Paul, turn it over.

And this is the moment we've all
been waiting for will she or won't she?

Okay hang on. Well that's a bit worrying
it's turning over but clearly something's

stopping it from firing up. Okay.
The electrical circuit seems okay so I'm

going to replace the coil and the
distributor to see whether that helps.

if it doesn't the engine could have
other more serious problems. I've got

faith in our little Volkswagen.
So Paul let's try it again.

whoa.

But my excitement is short-lived
it started but isn't running properly.

Well it certainly runs albeit a bit
badly now I think it's going to need an

awful lot more work before we can
actually drive around with this engine

and we have got this problem with a
huge amount of end flow I don't know

what the answer is whether we try and
rebuild this engine or whether we go for

another one maybe either a recon or
perhaps even just a second-hand engine

I need to talk to Mike about this
I think before I make a decision.

While I'm waiting to talk to Mike
about our engine problem I'm going to

check our Beatles brakes.
It has drum brakes to check them the

drums have an inspection
hole I can feel that the brakes are

binding so I need to prise them off.
I can see the adjuster which is a good

thing I need to adjust
that adjuster to actually

back the shoes away
from the outside of the drive.

So now much better
they're nice and free probably

too free but it means I
can now try and get this off.

There we go and the other bearing
and the seal are still stuck inside they

can see them in there.
So well first of all we've got a new

sl*ve cylinder which is good news
that explains the new flexi pipe as

well which means obviously
somebody's been looking after this car

but also looking at the shoes I mean it's
a fair chunk of meat on there it's going

to be a good for another thousand
or so miles probably quite a few

thousand actually so I think what I
think I will do is I might take these

little adjusters out put a bit of
copper grease in there make sure

they're adjustable in the
future but I think essentially

this car is going to stop.
Well at least the brakes are in good shape

it's a shame the same can't be said
about the engine or the paint work.

Our bug desperately needs a paint
job but before I can do any rubbing down

of the paint I'm going to have to
take all of the shiny bits off and this

is definitely a job for two people
so Paul will be helping me as well.

Renovating this car is
where the money is an

original car with great
bodywork can sell for

three or four times the
price of a tatty runner.

Preparing the car for a respray is taking
us hours but it's a real money saver.

We're worried that this lovely interior
might get damaged by what the bodywork does

so by taking it out of the
car at least it'll remain safe.

It looks like the original color
of this car wasn't dark blue.

I can see from the doors and from
the layers of paint I'm sanding off that

originally it was golf blue a really
popular color in the 60s so we could

return our beetle to its factory
color when we respray it.

We've been doing quite a bit of sanding but
that isn't going to help this load of rust

down here in the bottom
of the wheel well you

can see it's quite
extensive it goes all the

way across the bottom and it really has
to be cut out to be repaired but luckily

a nice repair panel came with the car so
it shouldn't be too hard a job but all that

does have to go first but
because there's gonna

be lots of welding
going on lots of grinding

loads of sparks and fire kind of need
to move the fuel tank a potential b*mb

in that situation it's quite
easy thing to sort out four bolts.

There's a flexible fuel line attached to
the petrol tank so I need to clamp this off

to prevent fuel leaking all over
the workshop as I remove the tank.

It's a lot easier to see
what's going on from

underneath the car
here I can see that rolled

over lip up there I can
see where this lip is

actually going to sit on
top of the other panel.

there once I've removed the majority of the
metal it's going to be a lot easier to work

out what's going on so basically
loads and loads of angle grinding.

First up I need to cut
out that rusty panel.

Now I'm happy that it fits in all
the right places but the next thing.

is I need to just take off all the paint so
I can weld our new panel to the old stuff.

You can only successfully weld with
clean metal I can make good any exposed

metal before the car is
sprayed later on. Now

I'm drilling a load
of holes in this panel

because I haven't got
a spot welder normally

all these panels are
spot welded together

and that's basically a welder with two
electrodes touches either side of two

bits of metal and then the heat in the
middle actually welds them together.

Now I haven't got that
kind of gear but what

I can do is by drilling
all these holes I can

do a plug weld which
essentially means I'm

going to weld through
that hole onto the panel

behind and then obviously the little pool
of welders they're going to do exactly the

same thing that a spot
weld would and it's still

going to hold the car
together beautifully.

Finally after all that prep
work we're ready to weld.

With the new panel welded in place I
need to smooth off any excess weld.

Replacing the panel myself has saved
me around 300 pounds in garage fees.

Well I'm really really
happy with the way this

has turned out actually
because once you've got

some weld sealer
on there and it's been

painted you'd never know it had been
repaired which is the way it should be.

Look at the state of
this how you getting on?

Well as you know Paul and I have been
working very hard on this and of course

it's got to look pretty rubbish
before it can look glorious.

It's an ugly duckling
but it looked like a swan.

Exactly.

Hopefully.

Have I bought a shed or is it all right?

No I think when you think it's 50 years
old it's in really good Nick there are a

few little scabs from people who have done
stuff before I had to do a bit of welding

in the front here as well but once it's
painted up you're never going to know.

What about the mechanicals though?

Surely you just put
some fresh petrol in it put

new battery on and
it fired up it's a beetle.

Well kind of after
a lot of work it did

actually fire up and
ran for probably a couple

of seconds it's going
to need an awful lot of

work to get that engine
running really sweet

and the thing is I'm
actually not sure whether

it might be better to
perhaps buy another engine.

Where's the money going to come from
from how about a reconditioned engine?

That would be okay that would be okay.

That'd be all right and this paint
work obviously this is a big issue.

It is I mean there is still a
huge amount of work to be done.

Well you get rubbing away
get this body work done

I'll go and find some
parts on the tinder web.

So far the beetle has only cost about 30 ed
man hours but no pound notes the remaining

three thousand four
hundred pound of the

kitty will need to fund
a new engine and paint

and trust me that's
going to be cutting it fine.

We've got five grand to
buy and restore a beetle

and I picked up our
car for just 1600 pounds.

We plan to bring this car
back to its former glory.

It's looking pretty good except
the paint work is a bit rough.

Don't press too hard it might fall apart.

You have to think ed the paint work's nearly


Ed discovered the engine needed replacing
so now I've got to find a reconditioned one

which is gonna cost me
but our car is well on its way.

Ed serviced the brakes and
prepared the bodywork for a respray.

Ed's at the paint shop
and I've still got parts to buy.

In fact there's so much
to do before I can even

consider finding a buyer
for our Volkswagen Beetle.

When I was stripping down our
car I uncovered its original color.

Golf blue the paint shop
have already sprayed

the inside of our car
this color so I can't

wait to see how it looks. Morning
d*ck how you going? Nice to see you.

Good to see you. It's good to see the car
in primer as well and you've got some color

on that dashboard as well.
That's looking really lovely isn't it?

It looks fantastic doesn't it?

That is very good. Have you got much
more work to do on the inside here?

Yes I've got to paint
all the apertures but to

do that Ed I've had to
take the headlining down.

You're joking.

I mean like I need any more
work on this car that's ridiculous.

Okay fine well it had to be done
so what's the next thing to do?

Next thing masking up in the spray booth.
Can you give us a push please?

Give you a push yeah
I think you deserve it.

d*ck's already primed
the car but there's still

plenty for us to do before
he sprays the outside.

As usual we're just cleaning
the car making sure it's spotless.

and this is just to make
sure there are no little

spots of grease or
any other dirt particles

that are going to ruin the paint
when you put the top coat on because

it'd be an absolute disaster having
spent all this time getting it this far.

To remove this dirt we're
using a pre-paint cleaner.

I had a real dilemma
with this car. Beatles

really lend themselves
to custom paint colours.

It'd be fantastic to do this in a lovely
mad orange or a mad green but then we found

that original golf blue. You can see that
was the original colour just inside there.

I think end of the day with this colour
it just feels like it's going back to its

origins back to the way
it came out of the factory.

Original 60s colours like golf blue are
popular with classic car enthusiasts today

so this should help us when
it comes to sell on our car.

Masking up a car can be just a little bit
tedious but it is utterly vital because of

two main reasons.
The first if you've already

painted some of the
car it does stop all the

over spray ruining
what you've just done but

also probably more
importantly when you do things

like covering the
wheels covering the sills it

stops all that dirt being
blown out because the.

air comes out of the
g*n at quite some force

it stops all that dirt
being blown onto your

fresh paint and
ruining your lovely work.

I reckon that's about it isn't it?
I think we're all finished Ed.

Cool well clearly I'm
a bit of a dirt hazard

so I'll let you carry
on cleaning and I'll

get away. I'll start
the painting. Cool stuff.

A respray like this would
normally cost around

£3,000 but because
we've done a lot of the

preparation work ourselves
it will only be £1,500.

Oh that's definitely the right decision
that blue is going to look lovely.

d*ck is going to apply four coats of paint
to our car. It's then got to be baked,

flattened and then polished
back to a perfect shine

again all of which will
take around three days.

I could watch this all
day but actually I've

got lots of other things to be
getting on with I'll let d*ck carry on.

Now that the beetle's
being resprayed I need to

get a move on with my
shopping list for parts.

So I've come to a VW
parts specialist in Hampshire.

Oh Pete this is amazing it's
like Raiders of the Lost Ark.

You've got parts for
sort of everything then.

We carry all the parts
for the air cord right

the way through to the
water cord on the vans.

We do the beetle parts
split screen bay window

type 25 type 4 type 5
so yeah we more or less

carry everything that
you're going to need

for your air-cooled or
water-cooled vehicle.

Fantastic so you should have
the parts that I need for my beetle.

Yep we've got all the
parts all ready for you.

Now the bits I'm looking for are hubcaps.

Yep four of those you needed.

Yes please thank you very much.

There we go.

And some bumpers.

Yep front and rear bumper
again there we go they're the ones.

That's all the shiny stuff sorted now for
the really expensive part a new engine.

We do an exchange reconditioned
engine for them for £699.

No way.

You know what I didn't think
I could afford an engine for it.

£699 is that a complete engine then?

Well it's what we call short engine so it's
a reconditioned block we take the original

bottom end that's all
rebuilt new bearings etc

and then barrels pistons
new cylinder heads

and then use the ancillaries
off your old engine.

So the exhaust fan housing
inlet manifold carburetor etc.

Do you have them in stock?

We don't keep them in
stock here we ship them

direct from the engine
reconditioners so.

So I've come here I've got me bumpers me
hubcaps and you can order me an engine?

I can ship you an engine it
should be with you in 48 hours.

£699?

That's right yep.

Done.

Right I've got the bits I
need and I've managed

to negotiate myself a
reconditioned engine.

Ed will be happy.

So far we've made good progress restoring
our Beetle back to its former glory but the

cost of a respray
and that reconditioned

engine has put a
serious dent in our budget.

Let's hope our little
car can deliver a profit.

I've picked up this tired looking


with the aim of making it a
desirable drive once more.

It's now back from the
paint shop looking stunning.

So Ed better be careful when
he fits our reconditioned engine.

We've got quite a few issues
with our original bug engine.

First of all there's a huge
amount of crankshaft end flow.

Then of course I managed to
get it running but not for very long.

So Mike has managed to scrape
together enough cash from our

Wheeler dealer's coffers to
buy us a reconditioned engine.

To save some money he's bought a
short block which means you have to change

all of the ancillaries over from
this engine and put them onto here.

Our engine is air cooled
so it's surrounded by tinware.

These are airtight metal
panels which help distribute cool

air over the engine so it
runs at the right temperature.

I need to remove them but don't want to fit
dirty parts back to our shiny new engine

so I'm going to clean
them up and paint them.

But I'd never get
it all clean with just

rags so I'm using a paraffin bath which
helps kind of really get into that dirt.

It's going to make my life a lot easier.

As usual before painting I'm
going to rough up the surface

with an abrasive pad then I'll
be going on with some primer

and then I think maybe
some satin black top coat.

Now this tinware is looking
much better now it's painted.

Some is still drying but I've
got loads to be getting on with it.

Let's face it this engine
isn't going to build itself.

I cut my teeth on Beatles so I've
reassembled dozens of these engines.

A tip to remember is
the last part off your

old engine is the first
part onto your new one.

You need to remove components in layers
and make a note of where everything goes.

I can refit one of these
in a couple of hours

but it's best to allow around four
if you've never worked on one.

Well all I gotta do now
is get into the beetle.

Ed.

All right mate.

Oh look at them sunshine I'm too excited.

Look at the beetle!

Wow what a color what a paint job.

Now d*ck has done an amazing
job yet again it is really lovely isn't it.

Finish is that the original color?

Yeah that's the color that the car
would have come out the factory in.

Oh wow and he's done it superbly.

Oh mate I'm overwhelmed I'm really
gobsmacked and it isn't even finished yet.

Well I know actually that's the next bit.

Big engine is this the one that I got?

Well yeah well the short block you
got is this sort of bit down in here.

All the other bits came from our
original engine just refurbished them

but now it looks a
million dollars doesn't it?

It does look a million dollars
it actually looks brand new.

Right you get that
in I'll put the kettle on.

Why not?

Right time to get that engine in.

If all goes according to plan it
should take less than an hour.

To give myself a bit
more chance of doing less

damage I'm going to get
Paul in to give us a hand.

You can see that the generator is actually
pretty much touching this engine seal here

and I've got the pressure
plate of the clutch at the back

just about to touch the
bellhousing of the gearbox so

it's a little bit this is probably
about the most tricky part.

There you go see now
what I've managed to do

is get the bolts lined up
underneath the bottom

of the engine they've
gone into the holes at

the bottom of the
bellhousing so now I can

put one of these nuts on and I
can start just doing everything up.

Before we can fire up
the engine I'm going to

reconnect the fuel filter and
throttle cable and then add some oil.

So I'm just putting in
some special air-cooled

oil it's a 30 rating because
of course air-cooled

engines run pretty hot
so they were designed for

the oil so that's the
half we're going to use.

Now we're kind of getting there that's cool
okay now when I put the dipstick back in at

the moment I'm just
letting it fall into place

I'm not going to push
it all the way down

because I don't want an air lock so when
I'm putting the oil in get a big air bubble

it might not give a true reading
so this way at least I know.

that the oil can move into all the
right holes in the cavities of the engine.

There we go pretty much spot on.

It may seem a little
odd to be fitting the

speedo at this point but
actually I want to know

how our oil pressure
is doing so what I need

to make sure is that
the oil from the actual

sump I've just filled
up is actually going

to get pushed around
all of the galleries and

it's at all the bearing
surfaces so the best

way of doing that is by
cranking over with the

oil disconnected so it
doesn't spark but just

basically the engine's
turning around the oil.

pump's moving that's going to push all that
oil everywhere and as soon as this light.

goes off I then know I've
got oil in all the right places.

Oh there we go so we've
got good oil pressure

now in the engine
because the light has gone

off it'll come back on
again once that pressure

has kind of leaked
away there we go so that

just goes to show the
oil pressure is actually

quite good because
it took a while to come

back on again look at
that so we've got good

oil pressure which is
great so we can now

put the coil back on and then fire it up
it's the moment of truth with Paul's help

let's see if we can get our
car started fingers crossed.

check that out.

with our new engine running all that's
left to do is adjust the ignition timing

so the engine runs
smoothly pretty cool though

timing it's all about
setting the exact moment

the spark plugs fire
in the engine cycle to

set the timing I need
to rotate the distributor

which adjusts the point
when the spark plugs

fire this strobe light
device is connected to

one of the plug leads
the flash is triggered

when the distributor
fires the spark plug

creating a flickering
effect that allows me

to see the white Mark
I've placed at top dead

center on the pulley I'm just dialing in
the right amount of advance in degrees

by one for the distributor
and then I'm then

adjusting the distributor
so that we end up with

the right number or
so basically this light is

like you can see the
top dead center there's

a little dot and some
correction fluid on

there and I'm just lining
that up with top dead

center on the actual block itself and then
theoretically the timing is set correctly.

okay cheers Paul well
there we have it we have

a beautifully running
engine in a beautiful

looking car that is
fantastic I'm very happy

all I got to do now
is put the whole thing

back together again
because we've done all this

hard work renovating
our beetle I'm keeping

as many original
parts as possible but if

something looks tatty
I'm simply replacing it.

as the last components
are fitted the character

of this beetle really
begins to shine through

these cars were the
first I worked on so

for me this has been a
trip down memory Lane

I'll be sad to see it
go I always knew that

this bug was going to
be a whole load of work

but even I didn't think it was going
to come out quite this good I love it.

at long last our beetle is complete.

this people's car may
have first hit the road half a

century ago but Ed made
this one look like brand new.

there's plenty of beetles out there
but finding the right one to fit our budget

did take time we eventually found
ours on an Internet auction site.

that tired old engine had
seen better days and got

it up and running but
soon discovered it needed

replacing so I had to
find a new one the brakes

were seized but all
that was needed to free

them up was some
adjustment saving us time and

money the paint work
and some of the body work

was looking shabby so
Ed welded in a new front

panel and prepped
the car ready for its full

body respray we fitted that reconditioned
engine and finished off our car with some

new bright work finally with everything
finished it looked like she'd just rolled.

off the production line
wow we paid 1600 pounds

for our beetle the new
chrome work and fixings

came in at 774 quid
general parts and spares

come to 236 but our
budget took a real hit with

the engine cost of 699 pounds Ed put in the
hours prepping the car so that respray only

come in at 1500 quid that's a total spend
of 4809 pounds wow no way oh god yes Ed yes

thank you so much
sometimes you just bring a

tear to my eye they
call it the lovebug I'm

so in love Ed well
done well thank you very

much I mean when you
got this car it was pretty

original I know you
wanted to try and keep that

charming vibe going
and I think it was actually

the right decision
because this is what you get

look at it new paint new
chrome I know it's got

a new engine oh wait
it's like a new car was

it a labor of love or
was it quite easy to do.

well it's kind of been
a little bit of both to

be honest I mean you
know my first car was a

Volkswagen beta so it
was lovely to go down

memory Lane and really
enjoy the refurb but you

know this car and
I've been on a bit of a

journey I think I've
got a bit more gray hair

gray hair or not
mate I'll tell you you've

pulled you've pulled it
off and you've pulled me

grab your coat son me and you and
the v-dub we're out for a cruise cool.

what's it like to drive
but it's been a while

since I've been behind
the wheel of a beetle

and it is a little bit
cramped in here and of

course that steering
wheel is kind of quite

thin that sit up and
beg style is well it's

just a little bit different
you know it's got

classic beetle handling
you've got those thin

skinny tires on the
front if you go around a

corner too fast you are
going to end up drifting

so this is not a performance
motor by any means

but you have to modify your driving start
just chill relax just cruise along exactly

I'm loving this car it's
great it's so good isn't it

just to hear that little
engine out the back I love it.

now definitely it's nice
to know that we've done

the right thing I could
have gone to the trouble

of refurbishing our
old engine but it would

have taken days and
days and at the end of the

day it would have
still been an old tight

second hand engine
doing a swap it's certainly

the right thing to do because of course not
only does it add to the saleability of the

vehicle but the v-dubbers
who are interested

in this sort of car
really know what they're

looking for I reckon we're going to get top
dollar for this motor they will be queuing

around the block to buy this okay so we're
going to sell it for well I maybe not I

may be very high in
what about seven grand

wow that is a fair chunk
of money man I know

the v-dub seen pretty well and I would say
that is top top money for a car like this

and this is a top-notch refurbishment
just look at the car it looks awesome

and it owes us quite a few quid well
get to work sir this car needs a new home.

well here's a real test to see
if our beetle's up to scratch

I've got a couple of potential
buyers coming over to take a look.

so I've advertised it for seven thousand
pounds what you reckon seven's a little

bit out of my price bracket
yeah what would you

look into spend maybe
about six is that it yeah.

hold out your hand
you've wasted me time

sorry sweet I'm not
gonna sell it to you okay

well there's bartering
and there's bartering

I'm gonna hold out for
a better offer I'm hoping

our next potential
buyer will appreciate our

car's true value so I've
advertised it for seven

grand and I think for
the amount of work that's

gone into it in the
condition it's probably worth

that to be honest my
budget really was six and

I'm not going to incite
you by offering your

six thank god right
because it is a fantastic

model but I think you
know I think I can just

about go to six and a half to be honest six
and a half grand yeah you're six and a half

put your hand down you're gonna do you're
you're you are gonna actually love this car

I don't think it'd be
absolutely fantastic

it'd certainly be well
looked after and well

cared for do you know
what sometimes it's

as important the
person you're selling it to

as the car itself
and it's not all about

making the profit it's
about putting a smile

on people's faces and I think wherever this
car goes in the future it's always going to

put a smile on somebody's
face get yourself

another hundred quid
six thousand six hundred

pound it's yours come on don't muck about
god hot work on it you've got yourself a

classic thanks very much
beautiful absolutely beautiful car.

well that's a blinding result
that means we've made a

profit of 1791 quid now that's
the magic of beetles for you.

what a charming car me and ed have got
a real soft spot for this Volkswagen beetle

we've given it all the
tlc it will ever need

now this car has put a
smile on people's faces

for the last 50 years and who's to say
it won't for the next 50 if you want to see

more cars getting a new lease of life
then join us again soon on Wheeler dealers.